SMS 2003 Troubleshooting Tips and Tools:

• Important Tools (from my point of view) in order to troubleshoot SMS problems (from the SMS Toolkit*):
  • SMSTrace: It's a very good Log File Viewer, not only for SMS.
  • Adv Client Spy: With this tool you can see what's going on on the Advanced Client, very usefull to solve problems related to Software Distribution.
  • MP Troubleshooter: With this Tool you can check that the requisites of the SMS 2003 Management Point are met as also verify that the MP is working correctly. Very easy to use.
  • MP Spy: With this Tool you can verify if the MP is providing Policies to the clients.
• Tools and Scripts that should be included in the Toolkit:
  • SMS Boundaries Overlapping detection Tool*: In large environments it can happen that a Boundary overlap occurs and therefore problems as also performance issues happen at the SMS Server and the SMS Client. This tool checks the Boundaries of your SMS Hierarchy and notifies of any overlap in the environment. It also checks against the AD Sites.
  • Repair WMI Skript*: A simple Script that will rename the WBEM Repository and restart the WMI Service that will regenerate the WBEM Repository. It can be used on Clients were you can't install the SMS Adv. Client or when you have general WBEM problems.
• Client Health Tool: This is a Add-On tool to SMS 2003 SP1. It will check your clients for Healthy and report it into a separated SQL DB. Unfortunetly the  "Client  Health Tool*" supports only SMS 2003 SP1..
• SMS 2003 Script Repository*: Here you will find several Script examples to manage SMS Clients as also SMS Servers.
• Docu: Troubleshooting Management Points for Systems Management Server 2003 (very usefull Document when you have MP Problems)
• Knowledge Base Articles:
  • KB826854 How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you use SMS 2.0 or SMS 2003 to advertise programs to SMS clients
• DCM Issues:
  • DCMSolution Database not created during installation (from Sai Kodi's Blog)
• Client Logs: All SMS Client Logs (except those from OSD) can be found under %windows%\system32\ccm\logs and here a short explanation for each (also check "How do I enable DEBUG/VERBOSE logging on the Advanced Client?"):

• CAS.log ."CAS" means "Content Access Service". In this Log you will find the local Package Cache status.
• ccmexec.log ."CCMEXEC" means "Change Configuration Manager Executive" and it is nothing else that the SMS Service itself (ccmxec.exe) Log. One of the first logs where you should look when you are troubleshooting client issues. You can find here for example communication Problems from the client to the MP. Very important Log!
• ccmperf.log .  It contains information of the CCM Performance Counter. Not really a log that you will look at very often.
• CertificateMaintenance.log. In this Log you will see if the Client got the right Certificate from the MP.
• ClientIDManagerStartup.log. Each SMS Client has a unique ID, in case that the Client was deployed over a Image or Clone or you have a SMS ID Problem, the corresponding information will be logged here.
• ClientLocation.log. Here you should look at when the Client is not sending informations to the SMS Server. You will also find on which SMS Site Server the Client is reporting to. Important Log
• ContentTransferManager.log. In this Log you will find download activity of Packages to the local Cache.
• DataTransferService.log. Here you will see if there are any problems with the download of Policies from the MP.
• EventLogForwarder.log. All entries done into the eventvwr are logged in this Log.
• execmgr.log. Here you can see the Status of the Advertisements, how is the advertisement started and which are the results of it.
• FileBITS.log. You will find here the Status of the downloads as also any reciving activity.
• InventoryAgent.log. Here you will find any information related to the Hardware and Software Inventory.
• LocationServices.log. This Log will show you how and which MP and DP are discovered.Very important Log!
• mtrmgr.log. Software Metering Log. The Metering Agent monitors each Process that is started on the Client and compares it with the Metering Rules to very if one of the process needs to be tracked.
• PatchInstall.log. Here you will see which patch was installed and with which parameter, when a Update Scan was done and which updates are missing. Very important Log!
• PatchUIMonitor.log. This is the User Interface log of the Security Updates.
• PolicyAgent.log. Any Policy request and Policy Download is logged here. Very important Log!
• PolicyAgentProvider.log. Here you will see the most important tasks of the Policy Agent.
• PolicyEvaluator.log. Each Policy is verified after ~2 Minutes after the download of the Policies is done, this verification is logged here. Important Log
• RemCtrl.log . In this log you will find the Remote Tools agent installation.
• ScanWrapper.LOG . This log corresponds to the "ITMU" Scanner. Every security update scan and installation is logged here. You can also see which wsusscan.cab is used and from where as also how and which parameters was the Scan started.
• Scheduler.log . Here you can see what the SMS Scheduler has started and the result of it.
• smscliui.log . Log for the SMS Client User Interface.
• smscstat.log . Software Update Client Status Log.
• SmsWusHandler.log . Another log related to ITMU, here you will find any Update Scan done on the PC.
• SrcUpdateMgr.log . Every update of the Windows Installer Source Location Agent of SMS is logged here. Mor Infos about the Windows Installer Source Location Agent can be found here.
• StatusAgent.log . Any new Status Message is logged here.
• SWMTRReportGen.log . On aregular Basis the Metering Data is collected in a xml file and send to the SMS Server, in this log you will this process.
• UpdateScan.log . It's the log for the "SMS Extended Security Update Inventory Tool". Some Updates that are not supported by ITMU and therefore this extended scan tool is required. More information about it can be found here.

•     Client Setup Logs: You can find them under %windows%\system32\ccmsetup :

• ccmsetup.log
• client.msi.log

* YOU TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY ON THE USE OF THE MENTIONED TOOLS. PLEASE TEST BEFORE TO IMPLEMENT IN PRODUCTION. EACH OWNER OF THE SOFTWARE HAS THE RIGHTS  AND IS COPYRIGHT BY EACH OF THEM.

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